DoubleEdge: Arrowfoot's LeafGreen Nuzlocke
by Arrowfoot the Dragon
Summary: Arrow doesn't want to go on a pokémon journey, not after everything that's already happened to her in her life. Now, however, circumstances are leading her to do just that, pulling her back into a dangerous world that she's tried to escape. But, contrary to popular belief, pokémon aren't the only ones who have HP totals in this variation on the classic Nuzlocke Challenge.
1. Chapter 1

**Double-Edge**

**Arrowfoot's LeafGreen Nuzlocke **

**Chapter 1: Introduction**

I didn't ask to go on a journey. I never wanted this.

Actually, _never_ is a strong word. Maybe there was one time I wanted to go on a journey, and do about a bajillion other things. Because, you know, I was Arrow, _the_ Arrow, the one that everyone in the south side of Saffron knew. I had a new reputation, I was a completely different person from the boring me of before, and you know what? I could do fucking _anything._ Or, at least, I thought I could.

But I'm eighteen now, and I've been around the block a few times more than the average teenager. I've seen and done things that I sure as hell wish I hadn't seen and done, but there's not much I can do to change that, is there? I just gotta keep living my calm life in Pallet Town, helping out in the Prof's lab and-

Oh, but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. You'll hear enough about that once we actually get this story started. My real point is, shit's about to go down, and you'd probably like to know the ground rules, wouldn't you?

So here's the deal. I'll have actual _reasons _for all these shitty rules once we get going with this actual Nuzlocke, but it's nice to have 'em at least mentioned here to start out with.

First of all, I can't take care of a zillion pokémon, and Oak – inspiration though he may be to us all – can't take care of all of them for me, either. So the first pokémon on any route that I see is the only pokémon I'm allowed to catch. Simple as that. Shiny exception, though, since Arceus has gotta be tellin' me something important if he's throwing someone that rare in my face.

If a pokémon 'faints,' well… Let's just say that things aren't as peachy as games would have you think. It doesn't happen often, but pokémon can get carried away, and one pokémon might just end up dead in the heat of battle. And nowadays this seems to be happening more and more often, and no one really knows why. So if a pokémon 'faints,' that actually means it's dead, and I've gotta release it at the soonest opportunity. And shinies and their sparkly special butts are not exempt from this.

HOWEVER, when I say that shit's about to go down, I mean it. And it's not just for my pokémon. Sure, in an ideal world, humans would never possibly be caught up in the fuck that goes down in pokémon battles, and we'd all live forever and blah blah blah. But that's not how it happens, not really. There'll be bad guys who purposefully go after trainers, and I might even try and take a hit to save one of my own pokémon from dying. I know, I'm such a selfless martyr, right? Risking myself and all that jazz.

But that's where this whole 'double-edge' thing comes in, because the benefits of a pokémon journey don't necessarily outweigh its costs. Though I might seem like the great, almighty Arrow to you, truth is I don't take well to scares. I've got heart problems and the like – nothing I bring up in casual conversation, 'cuz in a sleepy town like Pallet, it hardly matters. Not to mention, I'm just a human. If I do get caught in a battle somehow, I'm gonna get screwed over something bad. So here's what's going down.

I'm starting out with 100 HP. If I jump in to help one of my pokémon, it costs a whopping 1/3 of my total HP. And if I don't have a revive on hand to heal them right after the battle is over, then tough luck – they're dead, and even if I'm feeling in a self-sacrificing mood, there's nothing I can do.

If a pokémon dies and I don't save it, I lose 10 HP.

Another 5 HP any time a pokémon goes into the red.

3 HP if a pokémon goes straight from full health to orange.

2 HP any time a pokémon uses self-destruct or explosion against one of my pokémon.

1 HP any time a trainer's pokémon lands a critical hit.

And if I run out of HP… Well, I'm dead. But I'm sure as hell gonna do everything I can to avoid that, 'cuz I don't want to fucking die any time soon.

Additionally, any time something major happens in my journey – maybe because of one of the previously mentioned unfortunate circumstances, or just something in the course of the plot – then additional rules and penalties might be added, such as item restriction or numerous other rules. Yeah, I know, it sucks. But what the fuck am I supposed to do about it, huh? After all, I don't even want to go on this stupid journey. But it doesn't look like I've got much of a choice.

So in that case… Kanto, prepare yourself, 'cuz Arrowfoot is coming.

It's time to do some Nuzlocke, bitches.

* * *

Real life Arrowfoot here with a few things to say! Firstly, as you can probably tell, this story will be a first for me in that it not only has cursing, but it's got a lot of it. I hope this doesn't offend any of my dedicated watchers, but it fits well with what I want out of this fic. Although due to this and maybe some other more adult references later on, I'm rating it M... Wish I didn't have to, but I'm pretty sure it definitely falls within it due to all the cursing alone.

Secondly, the rules are listed more plainly on my profile, so check them out there if you're still confused.

Thirdly, I'll only be playing far enough ahead in the actual Nuzlocke in order to write the coming chapter or two, and never more. I want to be as in the dark as you as to who's gonna be a teammate, who's gonna die, etc. On that same note: though I have the plot basically planned out, there is a TON that's gonna depend on the rolls of chance - what temperaments my pokémon get, when pokémon die, how much damage Arrow takes, etc.

(Fourthly) Because of all this uncertainty, I'm more or less just writing this for fun, and not taking it too seriously. The damage to trainer is a rule (or, rather, set of rules) that I came up with myself, and as such is highly experimental. As far as I know, I might find myself without my main character halfway through the fic. But when I say I'm not taking this too seriously, that's not to say I'm not trying to make a good story of it by any means! It just means that the plot won't be quite as complex as some of my past fics, and I'll have to roll with the punches. And if you choose to read on, you'll be there with me as I go through triumph and loss in the course of the journey through Kanto. The main purpose of this fic is that I want to give more life to the pokémon in my Nuzlocke, because Arceus only knows how much I freaking love to do Nuzlocke Challenges. And if you don't know what a Nuzlocke Challenge is, google it - the original Nuzlocke Challenge comic is wonderful, as are a zillion others that are floating around on the Internet.

Lastly, and most importantly, updates will be sporadic, and will in no way interfere with the minimum weekly updates of Defenders of Warmth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Let's be honest: Dorothy was definitely high the whole time that movie was in color.**

_Start: 100HP, 0 pokémon on team, 0 deaths_

"All girls dream of traveling. It said so on TV."

I looked at the screen as I crammed a piece of toast in my mouth. A girl with her hair in pigtails was walking down a road. A yellow brick road. She looked too damn perfect for my tastes, and too hopeful despite the fact that a tornado had just picked her up and carried her off to lollipop land or whatever.

"Really? The Wizard of Oz? Dorothy didn't want to travel," I said, crumbs falling from my mouth. I didn't bother wiping them up; I was in a hurry, and besides, she'd put up with worse BS from me. Probably not how I should treat the woman who had been willing to rent out a room to a bad egg like me, but she seemed to enjoy cleaning up after me well enough. I sometimes thought that maybe it was to make up for her own lack of kids. "Besides, Dorothy is probably high this entire movie. Only way that any of it makes any sense."

She smiled. "Sure you're not getting the itch to travel? What with your boyfriend leaving in a couple days to go on his journey?"

I rolled my eyes, but returned the grin. "Like I haven't heard _that _one before. You know that the great Gary Oak has never disgraced himself enough to go out with a slob like me." Speaking of which, I walked down the hall really quick to look in a mirror.

"Actually, I take that back. I look pretty damn good today." My favorite aqua blue tank was actually clean for once, as was the reddish skirt I rarely ever wore. Sure, I could do to lose a pound or twenty, but that wasn't gonna happen, so screw that. Aside from that, I looked good enough. Even my scruffy old tennis shoes with the Sharpied-on arrows seemed somehow brighter than normal… Wait a minute.

"Damn it, old lady! I told you not to touch my shoes without permission!" I shouted.

"But they were so _dirty_!" she shouted back, completely unconcerned with my cursing and name-calling. That's how it had always been, ever since I started renting the room two years back. She'd yet to seem bothered. "I just tossed them in the wash, is all."

I harrumphed and grumbled inaudibly a bit, but just then noticed that my hair was still a mess. I'd barely had the patience to brush through it this morning, and even aside from that, the brown dye was starting to fade, making it a nasty, uneven shade of dirt brown."

"Fucking off-brands. One of these days I should just go ahead and buy the good stuff… Too bad I never have that much money."

I ran up to my room and grabbed my white sunhat-ish thing with the pokéball on the front. That'd cover up the hair, sort of, though it was way longer than just my head of course. I spent another second in front of the mirror.

I shrugged. "Good enough for that good-for-nothing jackass. Anyway, I'm off! I know the Prof's got an errand for me to run today, so I might not be back tonight."

"Or maybe for a while longer…" my landlady muttered audibly, the smile still on her face.

I paused in the doorway. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, nothing," she said. "Do tell that cute little Henry hi for me!"

"Will do!"

I caught sight of the clock on my way out. Fuck. I was late, but at least Oak's lab wasn't far; I wouldn't have even bothered running, even if I could. So I started walking through Pallet and-

Woah, wait. Hold up a moment. You're still actually listening to the crap I've got going through my head? Well, get yourself comfortable then, because I've got a bit of a complicated past, and I'll have to do some explaining.

Eventually.

But for now, that'll have to wait, 'cuz as you creepers have already seen, I'm running a bit late. All you need to know is that Green turned eighteen today, and since he's old enough to finally go and challenge the gyms like he's always wanted to, his gramps – my boss – is finally 'officially' giving him a pokémon. Green, a.k.a. Gary Motherfucking Oak. But he'll always be a greenhorn to me, ever since we had our first battle, so I call him Green just like I always have. I remember that battle like it was yesterday…

…Actually, I _will_ remember it, but not now. I'll wait for the right moment for that flashback. For now, let me just say one last thing: I honestly think that this 'official giving' of the pokémon is crap, because he could've had a pokémon legally since he was ten, and he's practiced with that charmander, Will, plenty enough in the past that they might as well already be partners. So yeah, this is a crappy waste of time. But anyway, I'm finally here, so let's go.

_End Chapter: 100 HP, 0 pokémon on team, 0 deaths_

* * *

As you can see, chapters will be short and sweet! This is kinda new for me, but I feel like it works best for a written Nuzlocke... Or, at least, for this particular written Nuzlocke.

Also... Yeah, first person. I wasn't originally going to be breaking the fourth wall with it, but then I was like "I already don't like it. How can I spice it up?" So we will have a fourth-wall breaking protagonist, at least on occasion. I am generally not a fan of first person since it's hard to do well... Thankfully, I'm just doing this for fun, so I don't mind the quality too much. That being said, though, I would appreciate any feedback! I haven't written in first person in a long time, so I'm sure I could use some improvement.

And also also, since this is mostly for fun, proofreading will be limited if not nonexistent. Feel free to message me or review with corrections, or feel free to ignore them if they're pretty minor. As I've mentioned, this is more for fun, so I'm just sort of rolling with it and trying not to invest as much time in it as I usually do in my pokémon fanfics.

And, final side-note: as you can tell, I'm just going for the main protagonist's appearance with this description, with a couple changes, namely the arrows on the shoes and being a bit overweight. Both of which are sort of plot points... but they're more there just to distinguish her a bit more from the generic LeafGreen/FireRed female protagonist while still keeping the overall look. Oh, and she's 18 years old rather than ten. That's a change, of course.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Who, me? On a journey? **

_Start Chapter: 100HP, 0 pokémon on team, 0 deaths _

I opened the door and stepped into the lab.

"Arrow! You're here!"

Henry ran up to my feet before I was even in the building, looking up at me with those big bulbasaur eyes of his. And, well, fuck, I never could resist that look, no matter how awkward to bulb of his makes picking him up. So I grabbed him and held him as I walked toward the back of the lab, where Green and the Prof were waiting.

"Hey, Henry!" I said. "What gives? You're awfully excited today."

"Well, Professor Oak says he has a surprise for us, too," Bulbasaur said, calming down somewhat and returning to his usual gentle, mild-mannered self. "I guess I'm just excited for that. I've got an idea of what it is."

I shrugged and looked up as I neared where Oak and Green were. "Guess we'll find out now."

"Hello, Arrow! Glad you could make it," Professor Oak said warmly when I finally arrived.

"Glad I could come, and sorry I'm late," I said, politely. Outright lie about being glad to be here? Of course. But Oak is the one person who's ever earned my respect. After all, he had every right to get me tossed in jail, and instead he helped me turn my entire life around.

More on that later. All you readers can wait a bit, right?

"Took you long enough," Green said with a smirk. "What took you so long?"

I glared at him, but I couldn't help but smile as I replied, "Just wanted to make you wait."

"Well, I think we've had enough waiting by now!" Will the charmander said impatiently from where he and Charles the squirtle sat atop a table.

Oak nodded. "Gary, you know as well as I do that I got these three pokémon two years ago, planning to study them and raise them as they grew, and then give them to you now. However, circumstances have changed."

"Yeah, I think I'd rather stay around here," Charles said as he played with the swirl of his blue tail. "That is, if you want to have me around helping in the lab, Professor."

"Certainly! You're more than welcome to stay around here – after all, you're your own pokémon. And I'll be glad for the help now that my best grunt work assistant is leaving."

Professor Oak looked to me, and I looked at him blankly for a second. "Who, me? Who said I was leaving?"

"Why, Gary did, just a little bit ago," Professor Oak said, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Of course, I was planning on giving you Henry anyway today, so the news of your new plans was a conveniently timed coincidence."

Arceus damn it. These fucktards were giving me too much shit to deal with at once – I wanted to be polite since I was around the Prof, and I wanted to punch that smirk off of Green's face at the same time.

And then there was Henry, looking up at me with that cute look of his that never went away no matter how much he tried. I gave in to that, at least at first. Holding him out in front of me, I said, "So, the Prof's finally sending you to keep an eye on me, huh?"

His smile grew. "Guess so."

**Pokémon acquired! Henry the Bulbasaur, Level 5, Gentle Nature**

"Well, you're gonna have your hands full. Or vines, or whatever," I replied. "Then again, seeing as I am _not_ going on any stupid journey, maybe it won't be too hard for you." I looked up and sorta glared at grandfather and grandson, daring either of them to challenge me.

Green, asshole that he is, took that dare. "Quit kidding yourself, Arrow. We all know that you want to get out of this sleepy little town. Or are you just afraid that you won't be able to keep up with me in the gym challenge?"

I stuck out my tongue at him. "As if. And for your information, I _like_ this sleepy little town. No scares, no hurry to anything. Perfect." The words felt hallow and meaningless in my mouth, like some dry, tasteless piece of old pizza crust that you keep chewing only because it'd be gross to spit it out. These were the same words I'd told myself since coming here, but they never sat with me quite right."

Henry looked up at me, disappointed. Or maybe concerned. I couldn't tell either way. "You sure? I was kinda hoping to do the gym challenge…"

"Since when?" I asked, and before he could answer I said, "Anyway, yeah, I'm sure. I'm staying right here in Pallet."

"Or maybe not," Professor Oak said, that mischievous glint still in his eyes. "Right after Gary chooses his pokémon, I've got a package I need you to pick up in Viridian. And-"

"All right, I'm fed up with waiting over here!" Will said, his tail flame flaring up. "Want me to just give Green my pokéball myself, Professor?"

"Oh, right! I suppose that comes first," Professor Oak said as he reached into his lab coat's pocket and pulled out two pokéballs, giving one to me (I had to put Henry down to free up a hand) and the other to Green. "Green, Will is all yours."

"Finally!" Will shouted as he jumped down from the table and ran to Green's feet.

Green looked at the pokéball in his hand for a moment, gripping it tightly. Then, he looked up to me. "So, what do you say? A battle for old time's sake?"

I grinned. "Why the hell not? But let's take this outside so we can fight for real," and, under my breath, I added, "and so I can badmouth you like usual without the Professor hearing."

"Right you are, you crazy bitch," he replied in a whisper before saying loudly, "Be back in in a bit, Gramps! I've gotta kick Arrow's butt like usual!"

"Keep dreaming," I said, ignoring the fact that he was right.

Technicalities, technicalities. This time would be different.

_End Chapter: 100HP, Team: Henry the Bulbasaur, Deaths: 0_

* * *

This would be a good time to note that all my pokémon's personalities are going to be based on their in-game temperaments. Henry had a gentle nature, so he'll be a lot more mellow than I was originally planning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: And so the backstory begins… Barely.**

_Start Chapter: 100 HP, Team: Henry the Bulbasaur, Deaths: 0_

"All right, scratch attacks all the way!" Green said. "And in the meantime, I'd like to have a chat with the crazy bitch who thinks she can battle."

"Tackle as usual, Henry," I said as the battle began. "And Green, you're more than welcome to talk to yourself all you want, but it won't get you very far in life."

"Ha ha, funny," he said. I wondered why he wasn't doing his normal strategy of growling to make Henry's attacks almost useless. That was why I normally lost, since I normally stick with the head-on attacks. Maybe he's just being cocky today.

Well, whatever. The prick was still talking, so I figured I might as well listen. "You do remember the first time we battled, right?"

See, readers? Told ya. There's a right time for every flashback.

"Sure do," I said. "And you're still as much of a greenhorn now as you were then. Case and point: Henry, tackle Green!"

Though at one point he would have been conflicted about such a command, Henry suspected it nowadays, and knew the plan. "Right you are!" He separated himself from his less-than-epic tackle/scratch battle with Will and dashed towards Green.

If he hit, the worst that would happen is Green getting a bit bruised.

But both Green and Will were ready. Green sidestepped the attack, and soon Henry was caught back up dealing with Will's continued scratch attacks.

"Not so much the greenhorn now, am I?" Green said. "I know what to expect."

"Yeah, well, that's not enough," I said. "If you could dodge Henry's attack anyway, then you should've taken that opportunity to have Will attack me."

Green shook his head. "Sorry. Maybe that's how you battle, but I'm just as disgusted with that idea as I was back then, when we first battled two years ago. It was a complete shock to me then, that anyone would battle outside of general battle rules. Now, it's no shock, but I still don't accept it."

I was about to respond, but I noticed that Henry was tiring out. Not any more than Will, of course, because they were both pitiably weak; there was a glaring lack of training opportunities here in Pallet, so neither had much strength or experience. But even though he was just in the orange (metaphorically speaking, if you know what I mean… Health bars don't technically exactly exist here, now, do they?), I didn't feel right pushing him further. Even seeing him like this, tiring out so quickly, made my heart skip a beat. And for me, that wasn't just an expression. And it kinda hurt.

"Henry, catch!" I pulled a little pellet out of my bag (Did I mention I had that with me? Well, I do.) and tossed it to Henry, who swallowed the potion pill and immediately regained his strength. After that, two more tackles was all it took; Will was out cold.

Green withdrew the charmander to his pokéball, and we came up to face each other. "You were awfully cautious to use a potion just then… We're just battling for fun, after all. Waste of money."

"Yeah? Well, I don't want to hear it from the bastard who just lost."

"And I don't want to be talked down to by the whore who uses dirty tactics," Green said, a smile on his face despite the insults that were flying. His expression mimicked mine; the smile plastered on my face was just as big.

What can I say? We had a weird relationship. I worked for his grandpa, so we saw each other a lot. We'd always gotten along well, and people thought we ought to be a couple. We certainly both got around a lot. He was _the_ Gary Motherfuckin' Oak, after all, and he had quite a way with the ladies. I'd dated a couple guys here in Pallet, too, though I wasn't one for long relationships.

Yet we'd never dated each other. Somehow… Well, it never happened. Neither of us wanted to take it that far. We both had our secrets, and we both had sort of bubbles of privacy that no one ever crossed. These were unspoken facts that we both knew, and we wanted to leave them untouched.

So, long story short, we battled each other occasionally, since we'd both naturally gravitated towards our respective pokémon in Oak's lab. Oh, and we badmouthed each other with more cursing than the whole rest of Pallet used put together.

Anyway, back to the story at hand. "You know, Green, you _are_ gonna be out in the real world now. Most people aren't messed up enough to attack trainers like I did that first time we battled, but some will. And the fact is… Well, sticking to your stupid little kid ideals isn't always gonna help. Sometimes you gotta strike back. Without a trainer, a pokémon is… Well, not useless exactly, but the battling becomes much less effective, and yeah. You know more about it than I do."

Green crossed his arms and looked at me seriously. "That first battle between us… You were my same age. I just wanted to have some fun, see what you could do. But even now, what you did then – I'm against it. And I'm not going to ever attack a trainer in battle."

I shrugged. It probably wouldn't matter, anyway. After all, he likely would be meeting few if any of the sort of trainers I was involved with back in Saffron City. "Your funeral."

We stood staring at each other for a few moments. Fucking awkward silences.

"So…" I started. "You'll be sticking around here another couple days, right? At least until I'm back from my little errand-running in Viridian?" Why doesn't the Prof use fucking UPS anyway? Sometimes I swear he just comes up with errand missions in order to move this fucking game of LeafGreen along…

Oh, wait. That's exactly what he does.

"I'll still be here… Probably," Green said, his usual smirk returning.

"Then I'll give you your fucking good-bye then," I said as I turned north and started walking. "Henry, let's go get the package or whatever."

Henry followed obediently behind. "Sure, sounds like a plan."

Green, obviously wanting to get the last word, said to my back, "All right, smell ya later!"

I wasn't about to let him have the last word. Not this chapter. Heck, probably not ever.

"That phrase has never and will never make any sense, you douchebag!"

_End Chapter: 100 HP, Team: Henry the Bulbasaur, Deaths: 0_

* * *

Another note: any battles depicted in-story will be pretty much move-for-move what happens in the actual game. No creative embellishments for dramatic impact or anything.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Pointless errand running**

_Start Chapter: 100 HP. Team: Henry. Deaths: 0_

"So, Arrow… You're sure you don't want to do the league challenge?"

I looked down at Henry, though I could barely see more than his bulb poking out of the tall grass we were wading through on our way to Viridian. You'd think a government that can provide free pokémon healthcare and subsidize elaborate gyms could put in some fuckin' roads here and there, but _no._

"You're still caught up on that?" I asked. "Listen, I'll tell you one last time. I'm happy in Pallet, and I don't want to get in over my head. Besides, I've never been that great at battles."

"But you beat Green just a bit ago, didn't you? And even if Will and I are the same level, Green's no pushover as a trainer. He's been studying up for years in order to go on this journey."

I smiled. "I guess I did beat Green, didn't I? Bastard can't deny… Wait. Did you guys fucking stage that battle?" I didn't even need to see Henry's face to know the answer. "You bastards. And here I was, all happy that I'd actually beaten him for once. And that was my only fucking potion. What if we run into trouble on the way to-"

"Want a potion?" random pokémart spokesman said.

"That's convenient. Sure." I took the potion from him, then continued to Henry, "Point is, why the fuck would that arrogant jerk fake a loss?"

"Well… I mean, you've told us both that you don't really like it in Pallet," Henry said. "And you always make it sound like you'd like to see the rest of Kanto, rather than stay cooped up here."

I sighed. "You'd barely even hatched when I told you that. I can't believe you can ever remember it. Anyway, that was right after I got here. It was just really boring at first, you know? I'm used to it now, though, and I'm not doing something that's such a waste of time as challenging the gyms when I already know I'll lose."

"But you've got me now," Henry insisted. "A little bit of training, it'll be easy! Come on, I'll show you!"

There was a rattata rustling around in the grass nearby, minding his own buisness. Before I could stop him, Henry had challenged him to a battle, and the rattata had accepted.

"All right, trainer, come on and command me!" Henry said excitedly. "Let's do this!"

I sighed again. "All right, fine. Tackle tackle tackle. It's the only useful move you know."

Henry started in with a tackle, and did some damage. The rattata, a tail whip. Pretty basic stuff. I was a pretty bad trainer, that much I knew, and Henry wasn't all that strong, but I knew even this would be a piece of cake.

Another tackle from Henry, and the rattata countered with a tackle of his own.

Fucking critical hit. The tackle hit in just the right way, making me cringe and causing my heart to speed up painfully. I heard the impact as the rattata's hard skull slammed into Bulbasaur's jaw, and I saw him tossed to his side as he cried out in surprise at the pain. Straight from full health into orange.

**Minus 3 HP**

It was only now that I noticed the gleam in the rattata's eye, something vicious and violent that reminded me of the looks in the eyes of some of the people I'd known in Saffron. All pokémon loved to battle, but this was different.

Henry must have seen my momentary loss of composure. Either that, or the hand I had clutched at my chest.

"Arrow, calm down, I'm fine!" he said as he went in for another tackle. One more tackle, and the rattata was down for the count, knocked out cold.

My heart was finally calming down, but it still ached.

"Really, I'm fine, see!" Henry said. "And Viridian is right around the corner, so let's just get there so we can calm down. Are you okay?"

I felt stupid for getting so worked up. It was just a stupid rattata. Henry hadn't been in any danger, and yet I'd gone and nearly blown one of the secrets that only me 'n the Professor knew about. I've been with Henry for two years now, ever since I started working at the lab, yet even _he_ doesn't know about my heart problems. I just don't want to worry anyone unnecessarily. So long as I don't run around everywhere or freak myself out, I'm usually fine. You know, no horror movies, no roller coaster rides, stuff like that.

Apparently, I was now going to need to add pokémon battles to that list.

"Let's just keep going," I said as we started to walk on, leaving the rattata where it was; the murderous little thing would wake up soon enough. "That rattata just seemed a bit mean-spirited. I thought you were in trouble there for a second."

"He _was_ kinda odd," Henry admitted. "Then again, I've heard tell from other pokémon that a lot of pokémon are getting like this… Just getting way too carried away in battle. And not just wild pokémon, but trainers' pokémon, too. I thought it was just rumors, but maybe not."

"Anyway, I think this just proves my point," I said. "I am _not_ going on a journey, and that's final. And if you really _do_ want to do the gym challenge, then I suggest you leave with Green. Dick though he is, he'll be a better trainer than I could ever be."

Henry frowned. "But I don't want him as a trainer. I want _you_, and moreover, I want you to be happy. You've taken care of me since I hatched, and we've been friends practically since then, so be honest… Are you really happy in Pallet Town? Just barely scraping by, working at Professor Oak's lab?"

I stopped walking for a moment. Henry was willing to stick by my side no matter what; that's why he'd chosen me as a trainer, when he'd known all along he'd been destined for Green.

"…No, I'm not happy. Not completely," I said, finally relenting. "But there's still no way in hell that I'm ever going to challenge the gyms. Got it?"

"But-"

I glared at him.

"How about just a journey, no gyms involved?"

Tempting. I couldn't deny that I'd thought about it many times before. But there were too many risks, too many scares that could happen on a journey, even without the pressure of fighting gym leaders. The fact of the matter was, I wanted to live a long life, but I doubted my heart would let me do that anywhere outside of Pallet. Sure, more than likely I'd be fine, my condition could be uncomfortable but wasn't typically _that_ bad.

But… Well, fuck, what can I say. I'd come close to dying a few times in my life, but that last time – the one that had driven me to Pallet – that one had sunk in. I wasn't taking any chances.

"Sorry, but no," I said. "We're sticking to Pallet, buddy.

_End Chapter: 97 HP; Team: Henry; 0 Deaths_

* * *

And our protagonist remains dead-set on not going on a pokémon journey. But that doesn't exactly work in a Nuzlocke, does it?

And here we see our first HP toll! If a pokémon's health goes from full to orange, it's a 3 HP expense. No, something like a little scare in battle would not have a lasting effect on Arrow's health, even with her heart problem. It's the mechanic that counts. I'm writing this mainly with the intent of wanting a story in which the trainer is just as much at risk as her pokémon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Let's catch some pokémanz!**

_Start Chapter: 97 HP; Team: Henry; 0 Deaths_

"What do you mean, he left?"

"I mean just what I said," Oak replied, seeming mildly concerned. "He was gone by this morning."

I practically growled. "I stay in Viridian one night before coming back, and he's already taken off." Damned stuck-up prick. I was gonna have to have a word with him. Awkward though it was going to be, I'd wanted to say goodbye.

Henry seemed a bit put-out too. Though Will was even more of a jerk than his new trainer, they'd still grown up together. He'd wanted to say one final goodbye, too.

"But you see, I still had some things I had to give him, and some stuff I wanted to say to him," Professor Oak said. "But as things are… Well, I have the package here, and I wrote him a letter instead. Would you mind running after him and getting them to him? I suspect he'll do some training around Viridian before heading through the forest to Pewter."

I wanted to complain, seeing as I'd just gone and come back from Viridian City. But it was the Professor; I couldn't refuse.

And besides, I'd just had a brilliant idea about the, erm, 'conversation' I planned to have with Green.

"Got it, Professor," I said, grabbing the package and letter and stuffing them in my bag and promptly leaving; I needed to have plenty of time.

Once I was Route 1, I promptly sat down and began opening Green's package.

"Um, Arrow, should we be…?"

"Yes, we should," I said as I grinned with triumph. Right on top was a number of pokéballs – I took half, five of them, then closed up the box again. "I'm going to show Gary who's boss, _without _him losing to me on purpose. But to do that, we'll need some new teammates, at least for a bit. And Green can spare a few pokéballs. So let's get going.

**Route 22 catch! Jane the level 5 female rattata, quiet nature.**

"Nice to meet you," Jane said politely after I'd caught her; she'd agreed to go in the pokéball well before being even close to fainting. After all, she could see where the battle was going. "So… Are you a trainer going on the gym challenge?"

I shook my head, sitting down so that I was at her level, more or less. "Just want to have a quick battle with a friend of mine, show him what's what. You in?"

She grinned, showing off her big front teeth. "Well, you caught me. Of course I'm up for it."

Something about her made me hesitate for a moment. She seemed so nice and innocent, and really soft spoken, especially for a rattata. Though she was nothing like that rattata I'd once had, I still had second thoughts about recruiting her.

"You sure? You seem a bit… I dunno, quiet. Not much of a battler."

Her smile faded a bit. "I might not seem like much, but I like a battle as much as the next pokémon. I'll prove it to you."

While I was getting acquainted, Henry was busy training, so that we'd be ready whenever we stumbled across Green. But he'd already gone through a few other rattata and pidgey, and was starting to flag. Sure, the rattata he was battling now was at least as bad off as him, but one wrong hit-

"Henry, right?" Jane said as she ran up to his side. "Mind if I tag in?"

Henry graciously stepped back. "Be my guest."

I barely blinked, and the other rattata was finished. Jane's first tackle ever (at least, with me as her trainer) and she'd crit hitted.

It brought back bittersweet memories of my old rattata. He'd been known for getting lucky like that; it was the only way we'd ever won any sort of scuffle.

I was glad Jane was the first pokémon I'd happened to see.

"You have _definitely _earned your spot on the team, Miss Jane," I said as she glowed with pride.

Henry nudged her. "You know, Arrow doesn't give out compliments easily. She must be impressed."

All right, party time was over. "Don't get too big of a head. I still want a couple more teammates before I go against my friend, and we've still gotta train. So let's go.

**Route 2 catch – Lemon the level 3 female rattata, adamant nature.**

"What do you mean, you're catching me and then not training me for battle? Isn't that what trainers are for?" Lemon shouted.

I didn't appreciate being shouted at; to show as much, I picked her up by the tail and dangled her in the air and said, "I've already got Jane, and she's proven herself. You're just backup. You want to go back to the wild or something? I'd prefer that over an annoying little fucker like yourself."

Jane, who was watching the exchange with Henry, muttered to him, "You know, I thought our trainer was really nice at first, but she's actually kind of mean…"

"Don't worry about it," Henry said encouragingly. "She likes you, so you won't be on the receiving end of it… Most of the time. And even stuff like this, she means it nicely deep down."

Lemon, meanwhile, had continued to argue, so now I was shaking her by the tail.

Jane looked doubtful about Henry's words. "You sure she's nice deep down?"

"It's really deep," Henry admitted.

"I heard that!" I shouted back at him before turning angrily back to this bratty little rattata. "So, what'll it be? Back to the wild or stick with me for a bit?"

Lemon finally gave up struggling, sinking into more passive sulk. "Fine. It'll be a break from living out here in the boonies, at least."

**Viridian Forest catch – Doreen the level 4 metapod, Jolly nature**

I stared at my new catch. "You know, I even like caterpie better than you. You're just a fucking cocoon."

Doreen hardly seemed offput. "But every cocoon becomes a beautiful butterfree someday, my dear!"

"I'm not 'your dear,' got it?" I said. Arceus, I hate anyone who thinks they can look down on others like a grandmother, just 'cuz of age or whatever. Pokémon, human, whatever. I just don't like it. "Anyway, guess you could be useful if things get bad and I need a wall to take some damage while I heal the others. Welcome aboard the team. Now, mission defeat Green is a go. Let's train for a bit, then find that punk."

_End Chapter: 97 HP; Team: Henry, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod; 0 Deaths_

* * *

And that's it for this big cluster of updates to start out the fic! Hope you're liking it so far. It certainly is going to make my Nuzlocke take longer since I can't just keep on playing for however long I want without writing a chapter here and there, but I think the emotional payoff of having actual personalities for my pokémon will pay off.

Plus, this is just a really easy write, which is making it much more fun (though not any more or less interesting) than my more serious fics. I'm not overthinking things with this one, not re-writing and re-writing sentences until they sound right, and stuff like that. Just writing what comes to mind. It's a nice break from the long, strenuous PMD Defenders of Warmth chapters.

So anyway, let me know what you think! And be honest, because I realize this may not be up to my usual standards. I won't be offended if it's just not your cup of tea.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: I'm. Not. Leaving. Pallet. So fuck off already.**

_Start Chapter: 97 HP. Team: Henry the bulbasaur, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod._

"Finally found you, you soulless motherfucker," I said as I finally got out of the first little patch of grass on the route, the area where I'd caught Jane.

Green watched me coming, mock surprise plastered on his face. "Oh, Arrow, whatever might you be doing here? Surely you don't have a package for me from my beloved grandpa, do you?"

Great. Just great. I bet Oak and mini-Oak planned this just to screw with me, or to keep fueling that stupid idea of getting me out of Pallet. "Yeah, surprise surprise. Anyway, You threw that last battle, didn't you?"

He ran a hand through his orangey hair. "Henry, did you spoil that plan already?"

"No, she figured it out on her own," Henry replied.

"Wait, you threw that battle on _purpose!_" Will spoke up from Green's side. "Mind letting me in on the plan next time?"

"Except you wouldn't have willingly thrown it," Green said. "Anyway, I was just trying to encourage you, Arrow. How much more fun would it be if we were both taking on the gym challenge at once."

I gritted my teeth. "Yeah, I'm sure it'd be a blast. Now battle me for real this time."

"You sure about that? I've been training while waiting for you to get your fat ass over here."

"I haven't exactly been just strolling around, either," I said as I threw out Jane's pokéball.

Green grinned. "If you insist." He threw out a pokéball of his own, and a pidgey appeared.

Level nine to my level ten. Shouldn't be a problem, not for Jane.

"Quick attack!"

"Sand attack!"

"Quick attack!"

"Tackle!"

Shit. What is it with these stupid critical hits by pidgeys against me?

**Minus 1 HP**

Still, this wasn't a problem. Another quick attack or two, and the pidgey was down. Of course, Jane wasn't in the best of shape anymore.

"All right, Jane, step back," I said. "Henry, you're up."

"Not bad," Green said. "You still lack strategy, though."

"You still lack strategy, though," I mimicked as annoyingly as I could. Then, in my own voice, I said, "I'll show you strategy. Leech seed!"

From his bulb, he fired off a few seeds, each of which clung to Will and began sprouting. The charmander ignored them and followed his trainer's command: more scratch attacks.

I grinned. This battle's conclusion was already inevitable. "Tackle him 'til he's down."

It didn't take much after that; Will's HP depleted rapidly while Henry stayed at practically full health. Soon enough, Green was forced to return Will to his pokéball.

"That wasn't too hard," I said with a smirk. "Sure you weren't holding back?"

"We'll see who's laughing when I'm the champion and you're still just sitting in Kanto, afraid to come out and experience the rest of the world." For once, he was speaking with real vehemence, no doubt pissed about losing for real.

And his words hit their mark. "Fine, jerk, see if I care," I said as I grabbed the letter and package from my bag and tossed them to him. "I _was_ gonna say a good, heartfelt goodbye, but I don't think you deserve any more. What do you even know about me? Anyway, 'smell ya later,' moron."

"Wait, Arrow!" he caught my arm momentarily, but I jerked away.

Still, I turned around to hear whatever he had to say. "What is it?" I asked harshly.

He ran his hand through his hair again, this time to stall for time as he searched for what he wanted to say. "You know, the fact is, I don't know much about you. You show up in Pallet out of nowhere at age sixteen with some punk-ass fake name and try to steal the pokémon eggs Gramps had in his lab. Only reason you didn't get your butt hauled off to jail was because Henry's egg hatched for you, and my grandpa – softie that he is – thought that was significant. Other than that, nothing. I mean, if we're not going to see each other for a while, won't you at least tell me why you won't go on a journey when you clearly want to? I mean, look at you! I've got the schooling to be a trainer, and yet you pluck a rattata out of the forest and with her and Henry alone manage to beat me. You're a natural."

"I sure as fuck am _not_," I said. I paused, then said – on a tangent that only my mind could have followed – "I trained pokémon for a while before I came to Pallet. Did you know that? My best friend – well, he was actually a rattata. My first pokémon."

Jane looked up at me, obviously surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah, really," I said and, wanting her in this conversation, too, I lowered myself to the ground and let her crawl up my arm onto my shoulder. "He was taken away from me, though. That's when I came to Pallet – to escape all the crap that goes on everywhere else in this Arceus-forsaken region. That a good enough explanation for you?"

Rather than reply immediately, Green exchanged a glance with Henry. "You know, Henry, you're too nice for your own good. You put your life in her hands by choosing her as a trainer, but she hasn't even told you the truth about not leaving Pallet, has she? 'Cuz I sure as fuck don't think some missing rattata story is all of it."

"I don't mind," Henry said calmly, looking up at me. "I trust you'll tell me when you're ready. Still… I do wish I could convince you to leave. A quiet life in a town like Pallet isn't for everyone, and I don't think it's for you."

Though his faith in me touched me, I was still upset about this whole situation. "Thanks for trying to plan out my whole life for me, guys, but I can figure out my own life. I'm leaving. Jane, you're welcome to stay; this is the route you came from. You're free to go. I'll be releasing Lemon and Doreen right after this."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay with you a while," she said. "Even if it's just to get an escort out of this area for a while, even to a quiet place like Pallet."

I shrugged; I can't deny that the news of her wanting to stay with me a while made me more happy than I'd ever admit out loud. The comfortable feeling a rattata perched on my shoulder, her claws just barely poking through my tank top – it felt so familiar.

"Well, I'm off, Greenhorn," I said. "Try not to get yourself killed without me around to protect you."

"Here, catch."

I turned around just in time to stop a small, red device from hitting me in the head.

"It's a pokédex," Green said when he saw my confused look. "Looks like you already took your share of pokéballs from the package, but the second pokédex is for you, too. The letter is actually for you, too – Gramps wanted to wish you luck on your pokémon journey, if you decided to take one. And if not… Well, he says there's always a place in the lab for you. And, you know… Earlier today was the first time I've really taken a look around Viridian. I mean, _really_ looked. Viridian's one of the nicer cities in Kanto, and yet I can see what you mean when you talk about all the crap that happens in reality, outside my ideals. If I can, I'd like to change things. Make this a region where the government isn't so ineffective, and where people like you don't feel the need to cloister yourself away in some obscure town."

I let out a mean-sounding chuckle. "Oh, yeah? Well, it'll be a long time before you're able to do anything like that, let me guarantee you that much." I turned around once again, finally ready to leave. "Anyway… Make sure to come visit us in Pallet every now and then. Your grandpa will probably be missing you."

"Sure a certain slut such as yourself won't be missing me, too?" he shouted at my back. One last, parting taunt.

"Don't count on it, dickwad!" I shouted back.

But, of course, I would miss him. I've already said we've got a weird, sorta love-hate relationship, right?

Well, one of those things that we'd never say to each other, one of those secrets that we both knew the other possessed… There's only one we ever had in common, one that we knew was the same for each of us. And we always let it go unspoken, because it never seemed quite right to admit, that despite all are insults and jibes, our love-hate relationship was more love than hate.

Both of us were just to prideful in our respective solitudes to admit it.

_End Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry, Jane, Lemon, Doreen._

* * *

I've had this chapter done for a while, but forgot to upload it. Oh well, here it is now! ^_^ And yes, tossing in the romance aspect up front, albeit with nothing really happening between them... yet. Don't really do any sort of romance usually, so it'll be a fairly light aspect of this fic.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Lost? Well, I guess this could be fun. **

_Start Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry the bulbasaur, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod._

"Huh? What's going on over there?" Jane asked as we came up on the edge of Viridian after my battle with Green. She lightly crawled up my body and jumped up on my shoulder to get a better view.

I straightened, trying to get a better look. "A demonstration of some kind? I dunno," I said.

"Who really cares, anyway?" Lemon said grumpily, walking just ahead of the rest of the group. "If you aren't gonna battle anymore, let's just hurry up so I can get back home."

I toyed with Doreen's pokéball, which she was currently in due to her whole lack of any way to move on her own. "Aw, let's just see what it is. Then we'll head north and get you back home."

"I'm good with whatever," Henry said. "Just so long as we grab something to eat soon. I'm starving."

"Well, good news then," I said, picking up my pace. "Looks like they've got free food. Maybe there is a God after all." We rushed straight over to the food, some of which were just regular cookies and stuff for people, and some of which was specifically for pokémon – oran berries, poffins, stuff like that. Jane was the only one more interested in trying to see what was going on nearby than eating the food.

I chuckled a bit as I stuffed my mouth with a cookie. "Don't see that very often – grub for the pokémon, too."

"Oh, yes," a young woman said as she came up to the table. "We like to treat trainers and their pokémon equally, even if they serve different roles. Of course, the demo is more for humans – please feel free to check it out once you're done eating. We're always attempting to appeal to young people, especially those who train already. Would you be interested in checking out the catching demonstration?"

"Oh, sure, why the not?" I said through my mouthful of cookie, turning and joining the back of the group.

The guy doing the demonstration was some old dude, but a pretty good speaker nonetheless as he demonstrated proper technique for throwing pokéballs and talked about the basics. Well, fuck that – I don't need any proper way to throw a pokéball. I just chuck it, and it always worked out well for me. Plus, I wouldn't be catching any more pokémon anytime soon.

"But with what I just did – throwing a pokéball, without fighting a pokémon at all – won't usually work," the man was saying as Lemon crawled up my body onto my free shoulder, apparently done eating. I picked up Henry so he could see better. The old man continued, "Most of the time, catching pokémon is a frustrating business. Even the weakest pokémon will oftentimes refuse to stay in, no matter what you do. Even stronger pokémon will only present more of a problem. And what do you do then? How 'bout you, young lady, in the back – you look like you've caught a pokémon or two. You tried catching anything stronger than just a couple rattata?"

"Who you callin' just a rattata!" Lemon shouted.

"No, I haven't. Not really," I said, ignoring Lemon but feeling slightly defensive. Okay, maybe Lemon was _just_ a rattata. An annoying one at that. But Jane at the very least deserved a bit more respect. But no sense making trouble. They'd given me free food after all. And I do love me some free food.

"It's quite difficult, I assure you!" the old man said. "That's just one reason why Rocket Corporation is here!"

I paled as the old man continued, "We can provide the sort of pokémon you're interested in, everybody, and we work towards the common good! Political activism, volunteering in the community, you name it. The government is ineffective, and aside from pokémon centers provides absolutely nothing for those who follow in Kanto's long tradition of pokémon training. Well, we of Team Rocket are here for you!"

I took a step back, and Henry strained to turn in my arms and look up at me. "Arrow? Is something wrong?"

"We always have positions open,, even in the tough economy. Trainer positions where you get teamed up with pokémon for free, no effort involved. Other business positions more suited to your education, if you're not a trainer and not interested. Or just drop by our local businesses and buy pokémon and pokémon-oriented accessories from us!"

I couldn't hold it back any more. I knew there was nothing to be afraid of here, but I hadn't so much as been _near_ a Team Rocket member in over two years, and seeing one here was a bit of a shock. I panicked. Lemon and Jane still on my shoulder and Henry still in my arms, I backed up and hurried off as surreptitiously as I could, not even thinking about where I was going.

"Arrow, what's going on?" Jane asked, obviously alarmed. "Is there something wrong with that man?"

I didn't answer, and before I knew it, I was running. I hadn't run for years – too hard on the heart – but even though I wasn't in shape anymore, my body naturally fell into the rhythm of it, my feet pounding against the ground, my legs automatically striving for the greatest distance and propelling me along at quite a bit faster than might've seemed possible for someone a bit on the tubby side. Invigoration mixed with the panic, and I lost track of how much of me was running away from something, and how much was running just for the thrill of going as fast as possible, under my own power.

But in the mix of emotions, I couldn't help but feel afraid as I felt one part of me not fall into the rhythm of the run: my heart. It beat frantically, erratically, and I was gasping for breath, nor prepared for how hard my heart would make things, how painful it'd something that had once been so fun.

"Arrow, STOP!"

Before I knew any better, Henry extended one of his vines and tripped me up, sending me tumbling into the undergrowth of the forest that now surrounded me. My three pokémon went flying in the fall.

For a moment, I just lay on the ground, trying to catch my breath.

"Arrow, what's going on?" Henry asked. "I've never seen you act like that! And Professor Oak was always saying how you shouldn't strain yourself too much around the lab…. Are you okay? Please, get up and say something."

"I'm… fine," I gasped, pushing myself into a sitting position. "Just… freaked for a moment."

"Why?" Jane asked in her normal, quiet manner, seemingly more subdued after seeing me act so unpredictably.

Still breathing hard, I answered, "Team Rocket is _not_ the kindhearted company that guy makes it out to be. They had a lot to do with all the gang problems back in Saffron, where I grew up. You eventually learned to steer clear whenever you hear of Team Rocket operations in the area."

Lemon rolled her eyes. "Now I'm glad I'm leaving the team. Don't want tome pansy like you as my trainer, anyway."

"You wanna say that again, punk?" I said, grabbing her by the ear.

"No, but I just want to go home already and get away from you crazies!" she said, trying to claw at my hand to get away. "Where the hell is Route 2 from here and I'll go back myself!"

I let go and looked around, realizing that in my blind running I'd become totally lost in Viridian Forest. "Good question," I said as I released Doreen from her pokéball. "Hey, Doreen, you know how to get back to Route 2 from here? I'm releasing you here, and letting Lemon go, and then me and Jane and Henry are going home."

"Not a clue, dearie," Doreen said with a smile on her face.

"What," I said, staring at her vacantly.

"Not a clue, dearie, not a clue! I barely left the very southernmost part."

I sighed and rubbed a hand through my sweat-soaked hair. "Okay, okay. Exploring a massive forest, fending off venomous creepy crawlies, and beating up all the bratty little bug catchers that are no doubt training in here." Before I could help myself, a grin came to my face as I roughly grabbed Doreen in one of my arms and stood. "Actually, sounds like fun. All right, team, no one's getting released until we find our way out of here. Let's get out of this motherfucking forest!"

_End Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry, Jane, Lemon, Doreen._

* * *

Someone has a bit of a problem with Team Rocket even before she starts her journey...


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Well, what the fuck, so long as we're here we might as well.**

_Start Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry the bulbasaur, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod. _

"Finally, civilization!" I shouted in a loud voice with a laugh as I emerged into the little air conditioned informational center that marked the entrance to Viridian Forest – or, for me, the exit. The few other people inside stared at me and my four pokémon for a minute, but then ignored me as I quickly found a seat and flopped down. "Four days. Four FUCKING DAYS. But you know, it was kinda fun. Been a long time since I've done any sort of exploring like that and beat other trainers to a pulp. But still, screw this shit – next time I'm renting a flying pokémon and just flying over. Thankfully, I won't have to be doing this again anytime soon."

"Not quite true, dearie," Doreen said from her spot on the floor where I'd pretty much dropped her. She was a cocoon; she could take it.

I glared at her. "What do you mean?"

"I think she means this isn't the same place as where we came in," Henry said as he came back from grabbing a little informational map/pamphlet from the info desk. "This is the Viridian entrance."

"Fuck. You're joking, right?"

"I think he's right, actually," Jane said. "I don't recognize thisp lace exactly, either."

I sure as hell couldn't tell the difference – looked practically the same as the place on the way in. But I figured they weren't lying. "Well, fuck. And I don't have enough cash to pay for a ride back." I sighed, suddenly extremely conscious of how long it'd been since I last bathed, and how long it'd be until I could finally do so again. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. Drop by the pokémon center, heal you up, then actually use a map on the way back and get out faster. Then you two-" I pointed at Doreen and Lemon, "-can go home, and the rest of us can go back to my home, and I can finally sleep in a fucking BED again. Got it?'

"Actually, I've got a suggestion," Henry said. "What if we battled the gym leader since we're here? I mean, then we'd-"

"No," I said.

"But it'd give us the cash we need to go home, and it'd be a piece of cake," Henry insisted, a hopeful look on his face. "And it'd be easy for me – rock/ground types? Piece of cake now that I know vine whip."

"I already said no," I repeated. "Even if this _wasn't_ some part of yours and Green's and Oak's scheme to start me on a journey, I still wouldn't do it. Hell, my heart's still flighty from that run, and that was four whole fucking days ago. I ain't pushing it. We're going back."

Bulbasaur frowned. "I mean, you're my trainer and all, and I respect your decision… But please? I may not be that into battling, but so long as we're here, I'd honestly like to give it a go. Why are you so against it?"

"I have my reasons." And I had hella good reasons, too. And yet… ah, that look of Henry's when he begged. I had trouble resisting, especially when deep down I really did want to give it a try. "But… Okay, one gym battle can't hurt. THEN we're going home, for good, no exceptions."

"Finally, you do something interesting!" Lemon said. "You gonna let me-"

"No. You're still level three and I'm not planning on training you anytime soon," I said before she could even finish her question. "I'm not even using Jane. Normal? Against rock? I don't know a thing about battling, and even I know that's a terrible idea. You can watch, and that's it. Now come on, let's get this out of the way so I can get back home all the sooner."

Pokémon center, then straight to the gym we went. Of course, there were the gym trainers – two little brats in this case. Wasn't sure if the kid who called Brock hotter than me had any idea what he was saying, or if Brock was raising little perverts to go along with the classic 'rock-hard' speech that he supposedly gave to every trainer. Guess I was going to find out.

"Welcome, challenger!" Brock said when I finally made it to him. He actually wasn't bad-looking for someone everyone joked about being so messed up. "My pokémon are all rcok-ha-"

And that's when I stop it. "All right, battle. NOW. Henry, you're up."

I didn't even wait to see when Brock was ready; I'd learned in the past not to hesitate. That was admittedly in rather sketchier battles than official gym battles, but still, old habits are hard to break. I ordered the vine whip before the geodude was even fully out of the pokéball. The geodude, caught off guard and unable to defend himself against the super effective attack, was knocked out with just that one hit.

I felt my heart start to race, but for once, it was in a good way. I'd never been much of a battler, but it did bring out a side of me that I'd tried to suppress for a long time, a part of me that had partly come out during our adventure through Viridian. That feeling of putting everything on the line in order to achieve a victory, or discover something new – it was incredible, just as it always had been.

"So you're that sort of trainer, huh?" Brock said with a bit of a sneer. "Well, we'll see if you can catch Onix off guard!"

My heart soared at the sight of the massive pokémon. Now _this_ was a real challenge. In the past, she might've just gone headlong and ordered attacks. But not now; she'd learned at least a bit more from her time with Oak and Green. "Leech seed first!"

"Got it!" Henry said, "And I think I can try something new, too!" He shot the seeds out of his bulb, then followed it up with something I'd never seen before – poisonpowder.

"You'll need more than that to beat Onix! Tackle!" Brock commanded.

The tackle – a ferocious thing coming from such a huge pokémon – made contact and sent Henry flying. My heart fluttered, but even in midair he righted himself and fell on his feet. He was fine; we'd trained plenty in the forest, as a side-bonus of having to get through it.

"And vine whip!"

In retrospect, I probably could have started out with a vine whip, because this one completely knocked out Onix with just one well-placed hit to the head.

Henry turned to face me, a grin on his face. But as he turned, his body glowed faintly, and grew. Leaves sprouted from the base of his bulb, which was turning into a closed-up flower, and his body was suddenly rather too big for Arrow to hold.

I smiled back and rushed over to him, heart still racing from the battle. "That was great! Took out that whole motherfucking onix all by yourself, and evolved to boot! Congrats!"

Brock came up and handed me what I'd earned: the Boulder Badge. "You're Arrow, right?"

I glanced at him, surprised. I hadn't told him my name yet.

"Green told me when he beat me that if you came through, to tell you he was heading on to Cerulean through Mt. Moon. He'd keep an eye out for you."

I was suddenly less than happy. "That bastard guessed I'd battle the Pewter Gym even though I said I wouldn't…. Fuck."

Brock shrugged and left her. "That's none of my concern."

"Well, whatever," I said as Lemon and Jane came up from the sidelines, where they'd been watching. Doreen was back in her pokéball. "Anyway, pokémon center, then back home tfor all of us."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Jane asked.

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you're joining in on Henry's little conspiracy to make me go on a journey?"

Jane looked down at the ground. "Well, it's just that… You really did look really happy to be battling."

"Happy or no, I'm done with it," I said.

We headed off to the pokémon center, but as the nurse was healing Henry and giving him a basic post-evolution exam, I overheard someone in the lobby talking on the phone.

"Yeah, yeah, it's true!" the guy was saying. "Team Rocket is running amok in Mt. Moon! I hear they're after something special in there!"

Color drained from my face. Normally I'd have just let it go and gotten the hell back to Pallet, where I belonged. I had no business with Team Rocket.

But there was the matter of Green. Brock had said he was going through Mt. Moon. And what if…

"Goddamn bastard, making me worry about him. Shit. He can take care of himse- oh, who am I joking, damned idealist!" He'd beaten Brock with a charmander, and no doubt he was a good trainer. But against a whole team of people in a dark cave who weren't afraid to fight dirty?

"Ugh… If I don't go after him and he gets himself hurt sticking his uppity little nose into other people's business and trying to make the world a better place, I'm never gonna forgive myself, am I?"

"Forgive yourself about what?" Henry asked as he walked up to her, apparently done with his examination.

I let out a frustrated breath. "All right, change of plans. We're going after that motherfucking Green and making sure he doesn't get into trouble in Mt. Moon."

_End Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry, Jane, Lemon, Doreen._

* * *

And so, the journey continues, even if Arrow would really rather it not. :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Death. It happens. **

_Start Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry the ivysaur, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod._

Don't let the title of this chapter scare you. I'm not so stupid as to let any of my pokémon die when all there are are a bunch of kids and skirts running around on Route 3. But some shit did go down, so let me explain.

Firstly, I'm just walking down right out of Pewter with Jane, Lemon, and Henry, minding my own business.

"Hey, Arrow, I'm glad I found you!"

I paused and looked over to see Charles, one of the Professor Oak's aides. I'd never been particularly buddy-buddy with him ever since he started interning with the Prof, but we'd gotten along well enough.

"What's up?" I said, rather conscious that I was quite obviously not going along with my original plan of returning to Pallet, and also feeling somewhat guilty that I hadn't gotten in contact with anyone from Pallet since, well, the last time I'd been there.

"I came to Pewter visiting my family, and your landlady heard about it and asked me to see if I could find you and give you these," he said, pushing up his glasses rather embarrassedly with one hand and handing me a plastic bag with the other. "Anyway, I'll be off now that my task is done. By the way, Oak's been wondering – did you finally decide to go on a journey?"

"That's a definite-"

"Yes!" Lemon shouted out.

I glared down at her momentarily, then returned my glance to Charles. "And when she says that, she means no. I just need to find Gary and tell him something before he gets too far ahead."

"Right then," Charles said. "I'll make sure to let the professor know. Good luck finding him!"

As soon as he was out of hearing range, I of course gave him not another thought and instead dove into my plastic sack, only to find a shoebox.

"That bitch had better not have gotten me-" I opened the lid, and sure enough, it was running shoes. And a note, which – for my pokémon's enjoyment more than my own – I read aloud.

"Dear Arrow, just thought you could use a new pair to replace those ratty old shoes of yours. I can't help but think that the washing I gave those things you're wearing didn't help much. Don't worry about the paying for them, dear, consider it a gift for being a consistent tenant, if not exactly a polite one. Good luck on your journey if you continue it!"

I sighed and tossed the bag and all its contents to the side.

"You're just throwing them away?" Jane asked.

"Yup." I looked down at my current shoes. They were over three years old, and they were hella beat up and dirty, so much so that the old sharpied arrow on the top of each of them was hard to distinguish at first glance. "I like these old shoes just fine."

Henry frowned. "But she'll be offended if you come back and don't even have them, won't she?"

"So what?"

Henry gave me a stern, penetrating look.

"You know, I just can't take you seriously now that you're an ivysaur. You're just too different."

He continued his gaze, and I eventually gave in.

"Okay, you're right, I don't want to offend her. And I guess… Guess I am due for a new pair. No doubt I've superglued the souls of these shoes enough times that a stroll through Mt. Moon might ruin them. But first thing's first." I pulled a sharpie out of my bag and carefully drew the same arrows onto the tops of both of those new shoes before putting them on and tossing the old ones – with only a moment's hesitation – to the side.

Lemon snorted. "And what's with the arrows, huh?"

"Duh. Remember what you're trainer's name is?" I replied snarkily, giving her a perhaps less-than-gentle kick to the face as she examined the new shoes.

"Okay, then what's up with the stupid name?"

I glared at her. "If you got a problem with my name, then you can just go-"

"Oi, wanna battle?" I looked up to see a kid approaching.

I grinned. I was definitely NOT above taking out little kids who didn't know who to challenge and who to stay away from. "All right, guess we'll be needing to train a bit before sneaking through a cave full of Rockets. Jane, why don't we try out your new move?"

Though quiet by nature, she smiled at this idea. "My pleasure."

All right, I'm too lazy to describe every battle, 'cuz there were a ton of stupid kids on that route. Needless to say, Jane and her new hyper fang attack was murdering them, figuratively speaking…

…until it wasn't so figurative.

Battling one of those stupid youngsters and his own rattata, the battle got a bit out of hand.

"Go on, rattata, get 'em!" the youngster was shouting, goading on his pokémon. And something… Well, something went wrong. I'd seen it only a couple times before, mainly in the last few days when training against wild pokémon. But I'd heard about it plenty, 'specially in the past couple years. Pokémon getting too caught up in battle, not really paying attention to who or what they were attacking.

"Jane, dodge!" I shouted. And she did, but the only problem was, the enemy rattata wasn't aiming for her. He was running straight for me.

"Fuck!" I shouted as I dodged to one side, and Lemon and Henry quickly recovering their wits intervened between him and me before he could turn for another strike. Though since neither really wanted to intervene in a battle that was not their technically speaking (well, maybe Lemon did, but even she had SOME self restraint).

Jane, on the other hand, had no such reservations. In fact, something snapped in her too. I was decent at reading what was going through people's and pokémon's minds in battle, and I saw a moment of fear for me, scared that she might've let me get hurt had I not been fast on my feet.

Then she was gone, and it was like she was another pokémon. Before the rattata could turn to face anyone – me, Jane, _anyone_ – Jane was on top of him, and her fangs were buried in his neck, and he collapsed underneath her.

The youngster's eyes opened wide in horror and her shouted out his rattata's name, while I just let out a tired – but not completely unsympathetic – sigh.

And it was then and only then that Jane seemed to regain control of herself. She slowly released her fangs from her opponent's neck and backed away, looking at the fellow rattata in horror.

I turned to the kid, about ready to say that shit happens and that it was his fucking rattata that started it, but he cut me off. "It's okay," he said, just barely holding back tears. "My rattata… he got a bit out of control. My mom always tells me that I have to accept that this kind of thing can happen if I battle."

I nodded to him. Brave kid. When I was his age, I don't think I could've seen any pokémon die without bursting into tears, nonetheless my own. Of course, I've seen enough since then to barely care. Personally, I was much more worried about Jane as she stood paralyzed, looking at the dead body as the sun started to set. We'd been battling all day, and nothing like this had happened. Not even close.

Before Henry and Lemon could protest, I returned them to their pokéballs, then went over and picked up Jane in my arms, not even worrying about the blood that got on my clothes. It'd wash out, and pokémon trainers were usually used to a bit of bloodshed here and there. It just wasn't usually fatal bloodshed.

"Come on, Jane. Let's go somewhere and talk."

_End Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry, Jane, Lemon, Doreen._

* * *

Aside from Jane raping everyone on Route 3 with her hyper fang, this chapter's mainly just plot and doesn't correlate to anything in particular that happened in battles on Route 3.

Also, before I forget, I just want to mention that the Critical Hit 1 HP cost is probably not going to be very consistent, on accident... I just don't pay enough attention when I'm battling random trainers, and I know I'm probably missing some here and there that happened and I just didn't think anything of it. I'll still be sticking to it when I catch it, though, and I'm trying to pay more attention.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: I'm probably not the best trauma counselor, but here goes nothing.**

_Start Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry the ivysaur, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod. _

It was night now, so I brought Jane to a secluded part of the route, and we sat down under the starlight. I dropped my bag to the ground carelessly, and some pokéballs rolled out, but I didn't think much of it. There were more important things to worry about now.

"I…I killed someone. How could I do that?" Jane was asking. It was all she'd been asking for a while now.

I scratched just between her ears gently, just like how my old rattata used to like it. It seemed to calm Jane somewhat, but I knew she needed more than just a sympathetic ear-scratch.

"The other rattata went out of control first," I said. "You were just trying to do your job. You were just trying to protect me. That's how it always is between trainers and pokémon."

"But I could've beaten him without doing that," Jane said, staring off into the distance, still obviously in shock.

"You couldn't help it. A lot of pokémon can't, at least not lately. No one knows why, so I can't say I know why it happened to you, right then and there. But I can say… I can say that I know how you feel."

She looked at me, obviously confused.

I looked up at the sky. "I've killed before, too. Out of necessity. Living on the streets in Saffron, even the young teens like me got caught up in some pretty serious stuff. Honestly… when it came time and I had to do it, I didn't think much of it. That was how things are there." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a switchblade. "I always carried this around back then, and I still do out of habit. It was my final line of defense, if my old pokémon failed or if I was in a situation where it was impractical for them to do the fighting for me. I'm not trying to minimize the seriousness of what you did, but… well, it could be worse. You could not care at all, just like I didn't."

I picked her up, laid down on my back, then laid her on my stomach, though I continued to not look her in the eyes. "Stuff happens. You knew that when you joined me, right? All pokémon do when they choose to stay with a trainer. Battles both in the wild and with trainers can get out of hand. But it's worth it to get stronger, right?"

She sighed. "I'm not so sure."

I continued to scratch between her ears. "Well, you're welcome to leave, if you think that'll help… But I don't think it will. The fact is, the past is the past. You've gotta learn from it. It mighta taken me a while, but I know I value life all the more since I know it's so fragile that even _I _can take it away. I might not act like it all the time, but it's true. I don't think I'd kill anyone except in desperate circumstances anymore. So now that you know what you can do, you've just gotta be more careful, right?"

She nodded.

I smiled a bit. It would take her longer to really and truly move on, but I was confident she'd be able to. She was stronger than she made herself out to be.

We sat there for a while, but soon, I heard a noise to my side. I looked over to see that, while I hadn't been paying attention, a curious little female nidoran had walked over and she was sniffing at the pokéballs. In another moment, there was a red flash of light, and she was in the pokéball.

"You've gotta be kidding me. Did she really just…?" I said as I sat up, put Jane in my lap, then let the nidoran back out of her new pokéball.

The nidoran looked a bit confused at first, but then she saw me and the pokéball in my hand and seemed to make sense of the situation. "Oh, did I get myself caught? I didn't think pokéballs worked unless they were thrown."

Mentally going through a mix of facepalm feeling and a eureka moment, I replied, "Nope, they work any time. Welcome to the team. You wouldn't happen to know double-kick, would you?"

She shook her head before quickly getting distracted and sniffing at the rest of my bag, looking most intently at the couple of other things that had fallen out. "What're these things?"

I didn't answer. I was just glad to have a something with fighting type moves on the team for when I went into Mt. Moon.

"Hey, Shelby, where'd you go?" another voice shouted from the distance.

The nidoran perked her head up. "I'm over here, Lionel!"

In what seemed like no time at all, a zubat flew over and, being a bit more perceptive than his nidoran friend, quickly figured out what was going on. "She got herself caught, didn't she."

Both Jane and I nodded, rather bemused. Going from talk of death to a nidoran getting herself caught was a bit odd for both of us.

"I'm sorry, Shelby," the zubat, Lionel, said. "I guess I should've kept a better eye on you, figuratively speaking." Then, turning to me, he said, "Would you mind releasing her? Or at least letting me come with you? She's a bit naïve, and when she decided to be off on her own, I promised her parents I'd look out for her as best I could."

"Well, I'll look out for her now," I said, pretty certain that I did not want to give her up. "Then again… You from Mt. Moon?"

"Yeah," Lionel said.

"I could use a guide – I'm looking for someone who went in there, and I'm worried about all the commotion going on in there," I said. "That's the only reason I'd let you join the team… Okay, and admittedly, I'd feel better having a full team. Counting Miss Naïve here, I've only got five."

Lionel smiled. "Sounds like a deal."

**Route 3 catch! Shelby, level 6 female nidoran, naïve nature.**

**Mt. Moon catch! Lionel, level 7 male zubat, lax nature.**

_End Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry, Jane, Lemon, Doreen, Shelby, Lionel._

* * *

A friend on deviantArt pointed out that I switched into third person a bit in one of the past chapters... Let me know if you ever see it happen, if you'd be so kind! I'm used to writing in third person, so doing a first person fic is throwing me off a bit.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: One of my exes… FUCK.**

_Start Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry the ivysaur, Jane the rattata, Lemon the rattata, Doreen the metapod, Shelby the nidorina, Lionel the zubat._

"Well, nice little training session, everyone!" I addressed the team. Well, minus Doreen. She annoyed me and I still wasn't bothering to train her to evolve her, so she was still pretty much pokéball-bound.

And, honestly, I was only talking to the big wheels of my team – Jane, Henry, and Shelby, who had recently evolved. I was pretty sure she didn't even quite understand what evolution was. Honestly, she acted like a fucking five year old, asking about everything and knowing about nothing. But it was kinda funny, too, and she could already kick ass, so I wasn't really complaining.

"Now, off to Mt. Moon!"

As expected, Mt. Moon was dark, dank, and swarming with Rockets. Though Lionel was able to guide us easily through the cavern, there usually wasn't much we could do to avoid the Rockets. No matter how well Lionel guided, I'd still inevitably trip on a rock. And tripping led to falling, and falling led to cursing, and cursing led to someone hearing and that led to battle.

Of course, after a while I stopped even bothering trying to hide from them. Because the fact of the matter was, we were _decimating _them. And you can be sure that I had well-placed aggression that I wanted to let loose on those motherfucking bastards.

"So could you explain why we're fighting these people?" Shelby eventually asked.

"And why we have to knock out the trainers, too?" Jane asked. Understandably, she was still a bit reluctant to battle, especially as all-out as I was requiring for here in Mt. Moon.

As I continued to walk carefully through the darkness, I said, "These guys are bad. Evil bastards, for sure. They'd kill us without a second thought if they knew we were a threat, and now they know that we are. So we've gotta be ruthless."

"That's harsh," a voice came out of the darkness, and suddenly a flashlight was shining right in my eyes. I couldn't see its holder, but… I recognized that voice. The guy continued, "We're just here on a bit of a historical dig. Fossil huntin', right? But I hear some girl's been messing with our plans. I'm afraid I'll have to punish you, little miss… I'll knock out those pokémon of yours, and then I'll deal with _you_ personally. Not often we get pretty girls like you to punish." He said the last one with an innuendo that was hard to miss.

Fuck. Definitely him. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. If he recognized me… He didn't seem to yet. Since I hadn't washed my hair in a while, the color was staying well, and I'd gained a lot of weight and changed my style a lot since two years ago, so maybe he wouldn't be able to tell…

Goddamnitfuck. Why did one of my past boyfriends have to still be in Team Rocket? And end up HERE, of all places? Mike. Damnit, he'd been one of the better boyfriends, too, but that was as a boyfriend. As a Rocket with a girl three years younger than him to 'punish'?

Well, let's just say I sure as fuck wasn't going to let him win.

And my three star pokémon made sure that he didn't.

A rattata first. Level 13.

Dear Arceus, he was making this easy.

"Shelby, be a darling and knock it out for me, will you?" I said, raising my voice to make it less recognizable, as well as dropping my usual coarse language and making it a bit more girly. I cursed so much back then that he could probably recognize me from my cursing alone.

One double kick and the rattata was down.

I still couldn't see Mike's face, but I had no doubt he was caught off guard by this. He probably thought he was hot shit, just 'cuz Team Rocket had given him a couple pokémon.

"All right, Zubat, show this bitch who's boss!"

I rolled my eyes. A zubat. No offense to Lionel, but if that was Mike's best shot, he might as well've just stayed on the streets and out of organized crime. "Jane, if you're up for it?"

Jane nodded, and went in for a hyper fang. Another one hit K.O.

"Shit! Those were my only pokémon, you little bitch!" Mike shouted, coming towards me angrily.

Oh, Mike. Always the sore loser. It was so predictable, so much like him. And since the battle was already over, I dropped my guard and dropped my fake voice as I said, "Henry, no need to be gentle with this motherfucker."

The guy stopped in his tracks and suddenly raised the flashlight with new interest. "No. Fucking. Way. Arrowfoot? That you?" he lowered the flashlight onto my shoes and, of course, saw the freshly sharpied arrows there.

Fuck. Why'd I have to go and be so damn sentimental about shoes?

"Hell, girl, I didn't even recognize you! Change yourself quite a bit, haven't you? How long's it been? Two years? Three? You've certainly filled out in all the right places."

In the light of the flashlight, I saw Henry and the others look up at me, obviously confused.

I was not about to fuck with this guy. "Henry, you heard me. No need to delay."

"Aw, come on, Arrow, don't be like that?" he said as he stepped closer, dropping the flashlight's beam a bit. "Why don't you give me some love? For old time's sake?"

Regardless of how confused they were, my pokémon nonetheless stepped in between him and me. "Arrow? You know this guy?" Henry asked.

"No, now hurry up and-"

"Know me? I fucked with her!" Mike said, taking on his usual, domineering attitude. "You mean she never told you about the best guy in bed she ever met?"

"I was fucking _fourteen,_ you bastard," I said. "You were four years older than me. You think I brag about being taken advantage of? You're sick."

"Me? Take advantage of you? On the contrary, you were always jumpin' around from guy to guy, taking advantage of _us._ Getting our protection when other relations went sour. At least I didn't beat you, like Tom. Or do whatever sick things with you Jake did. I think I was pretty darn good boyfriend, don't you?"

I let out a huff, but he was catching me off guard by bringing up memories that I wasn't exactly proud of. "Yeah, and you know what happened to Jake. Want me to do the same to you?" Without even thinking, I pulled my knife out of my pocket.

Though I couldn't see him, I could tell that he was angrier when he spoke again. "You think you're better than me, now that you're out of this life? Now that you've got some fancy-ass pokémon with you? You're still the same whore you always were. What the hell happened to you, anyway? Why'd you just disappear? We all thought maybe you'd finally ticked off the wrong guy, or maybe Team Rocket had decided to knock you off. You never _were_ good at following orders. So what was it? Or did you just run away from it all like how you ran from everything else, _Arrowfoot?_"

"Henry, either knock this bastard out or I don't know if I'll be able to hold this knife back any longer," I said, my voice dangerous. "Got it? And Mike, you tell anyone I'm still alive, and I'll make sure I do to you _exactly_ what I did to that sicko Jake. Comprende?"

Henry saw that I was serious, and didn't waste any more time. Before Mike could even respond, a couple vine whips to his head knocked him out cold.

I didn't look down at my pokémon. I pocketed my knife and started walking away, to grab his fallen flashlight.

But Jane stepped in my way. "I thought… I thought you said you'd never use that knife."

I sighed, took off my hat, and ran a hand through my hair worriedly and sat down. Meeting that bastard here had taken more out of me than I'd thought. "I don't think I could've, if it had really come down to it," I said, truthfully, and I knew that she could hear the honesty in my voice. "It's just… Getting confronted with the past like that brings the worst out of me, I guess."

I felt a vine placed gently on my hand, and I looked over to Henry. "Arrow… We need to talk, and you need to explain. To all of us."

I sighed again. "Yeah, I know, I fucking know. Let's get out of this Arceusforsaken cave first, and Arceus help whoever's idiot enough to fight me next."

That idiot was some geek freaking out about his precious fossils. I punched him in the face and took one of 'em just because I was pissed.

And I hadn't seen Green at all. He'd probably gotten through the tunnel before Team Rocket had even shown up, and I probably went through all of that for nothing.

Guess who has a new favorite hated place? ME. FUCK MT. MOON.

_End Chapter: 96 HP. Team: Henry, Jane, Lemon, Doreen, Shelby, Lionel._

* * *

This chapter (or maybe one or two after it) will probably be the last one for a while, as I'll probably take a break for a bit. We'll see.


End file.
